Union Bank of India to raise Rs 1,386 crore through QIP

KOLKATA: Union Bank of India (UBI) will raise Rs 1,386 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) this financial year, its chairman and managing director Arun Tiwari said.

"We are planning to raise Rs 1,386 crore through QIP which we plan to raise in the second quarter of this fiscal. If not, then the money will be definitely raised by the end of this financial year", Tiwari told reporters on the sidelines of Ficci Banking Conclave here today.

The bank had already got the approval of the shareholders and RBI in this regard, he said.

Stating that the bank's aim was to increase profitability and not just reducing NPAs, he said recovery had improved while incidences of bad assets had declined.

He said the bank sold Rs 325 crore worth of bad assets last fiscal.

On the recently launched JanDhan financial inclusion programme, Tiwari said that the bank had opened 9.95 lakh accounts under the scheme so far.

Tiwari said the bank was eyeing a business growth of 11-12 per cent this year, with 10 per cent in deposits and 12 per cent in advances.

The bank, he said, would soon upgrade its Sydney representative office into a full-fledged branch.

Tiwari said the contribution of overseas business was four per cent now. "We are aiming to take this to 8-10 10 per cent in the next five years", he said.